Field
The present invention relates to a drive device to drive a semiconductor element.
Background
In a power semiconductor device such as a three-phase inverter, a plurality of drive devices to drive a plurality of semiconductor elements are disposed. Each of the drive devices has an FO function of informing a control device (MCU) side of an abnormal state simultaneously with operation interruption of the semiconductor element when an error signal is detected by state monitoring (SC, OC, OT, UV, or the like) of the semiconductor element (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-10544).
FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a conventional drive device for semiconductor element. FIG. 14 is a timing chart showing an operation of the conventional drive device for semiconductor element. When each drive device receives an error signal from an ERR terminal, the drive device outputs an identification signal from an FO terminal to an MCU. Since the identification signal has different pulse widths depending on the types of error signals, the MCU side can identify an error mode. When a drive device receives an identification signal from another drive device, the corresponding device detects that the other drive device performs an error protection operation, and also performs an error protection operation by itself.